My Name is Earl Episode Recap: "Chaz Dalton's Space Camp"
This week marks Joy (Jaime Pressly) and Darnell's (Eddie Steeples) first full epsidoe back in Camden after their Witness Protection fiasco. With his friends back safe and sound, Earl (Jason Lee) can finally go back to worrying about more normal things — like space camp.
As the Turners work on getting their lives back in order, Darnell is most excited about finally being able to freely use the Internet and sets about creating a profile on Buddybook ("what MySpace and Facebook used to be before old people ruined it"). Meanwhile, the three people doing the most work are Earl, Randy (Ethan Suplee), and Dodge, who hopes to do enough chores to earn a trip to Chaz Dalton's Space Camp. This brings back many memories for Earl, who attended the same camp with Randy when they were young. Ever since that time, Earl has held Chaz Dalton in high esteem — he's one of the few adults Earl respected and, in his opinion, a bona fide American Hero. Not surprisingly, Dalton is also on Earl's list since he stole the former astronaut's space suit, accidentally shrunk it, and never brought it back out of embarrassment.
When Earl travels to the space camp to apologize, he is brought to tears out of both his shame and his still-apparent admiration for his hero. Dalton merely accepts the apology and maintains that telling the truth is enough and that nothing else needs to be done. However, Earl begins trying to track down a replacement space suit, and while doing so, he uncovers a secret. Viewing a gallery of astronaut portraits, he sees one of Chaz Dalton, but it isn't the same person he grew up admiring. He and Randy soon track down the real Chaz Dalton (Curtis Armstrong), who they find drunkenly bumbling around his yard. Blinded by his sense of betrayal, Earl overlooks this and urgently convinces the actual Dalton to go and confront the faux-Dalton. He agrees, on the condition that he can control the radio on the car ride.
Back at the trailer, Darnell helps Joy create her own Buddybook profile after she initially mocked him for using a computer ("Nobody likes a black nerd"). Her excitement soon sours when none of her hundreds of requested friends accept her. Later, at the Crab Shack, she confronts the entire bar. No one at the bar comes forward with an explanation until she singles out TV's Tim Stack, who informs her that nobody likes her because she's mean. He details how she commented on one of his photos that he looks like he has syphilis. "I was joking," she says. "It's not a joke when you really have syphilis," he responds. Dejected, Joy leaves a social networking outcast.
At space camp, it becomes clear that Chaz Dalton knows his imposter, whose real name is Wayne (Matthew Glave). Wayne was unable to become an astronaut due to being "born with female-sized lungs," and so he worked as a sort of pre-launch janitor. The seed for his eventual double-life was planted when the lazy Chaz would ask him to attend promotional events in his place, tempting him to try picking up "space groupies" that "John Glenn hasn't gotten to yet." When they come face-to-face in the present, there doesn't seem to be much anger on Dalton's part, but the vindictive Earl forces Wayne out of the camp so that the real "hero" can take his rightful place.
Dalton takes over on the same day that Dodge arrives to begin camp (with Joy, who is sure to ask the other kids if they are allowed on Buddybook). But Chaz shows up drunk, and regardless, is unable to teach kids anything about being an astronaut. Earl drags him out of the room and learns the entire truth — Chaz was accepted as an astronaut only because his father was a senator and his entire career consisted of goofing off, eating burgers, learning he was claustrophobic and otherwise afraid of space, and causing his mission to end early when he threatened to kill himself. Faced with the prospect of disappointed children, Earl locks up Dalton and attempts to teach space camp himself, with Randy's help. Of course, it doesn't go well, as the brothers recreate a space flight by rolling kids around in a garbage can and Earl tries to perform a moonwalk a la Michael Jackson. It is then that Wayne arrives to pick up his half-sandwich that he left behind.
Earl is considering relenting and letting Wayne take the class over, and it's a done deal when Chaz reemerges from the storage closet. Having read a bunch of fan letters from kids whose lives Wayne has had a huge impact on, Chaz realizes that the "myth is more important than the man." Earl agrees and Wayne takes over, doing what he does best. On a similar note, Darnell took the liberty of creating 351 fake Buddybook profiles so that Joy could have friends on the site. In both cases, seemingly harmless white lies ensure that people can become inspired and feel good about themselves.
Although I didn't find this episode as hysterical as some other recent ones, it was thoroughly enjoyable if only for the presence of Curtis Armstrong, who will forever be known as "Booger," (in spite of my personal favorites of his roles being from Risky Business and Better Off Dead). In my opinion, he's just one of those people you can't not enjoy, whatever he's acting in. Michael Glave (who will always be "Glenn Guglia" in my mind) was a pleasant surprise as well, approaching the Wayne character with sympathy and making him extremely likable. These two and Danny Glover get my votes for favorite guest spots of the season. How about you?
Now for a few more funny moments:
- Joy immediately puts the kibosh on any idea Darnell might have of being known as Harry Monroe.
- Earl notes early on that Chaz is the first person to sneeze in space and survive.
- Randy finally finds out there's a planet named "Uranus" and forgets what he's laughing about before he can even say it.
- Darnell may or may not have once slept with Margaret Thatcher.
- Earl gave Dodge the middle name "Chaz."
- When Chaz tells Earl that he took a few anxiety pills, Earl tells him that they "smell a lot like scotch and Dentyne Ice."
- Darnell's fake buddy profiles include Holden Caulfield from New York. "Occupation: Catcher."
- Earl refers to the Internet as Computernet.
